No bake lemon cheesecake with ginger biscuit base and a lemon curd topping.

This is a favourite dessert in HoniesKitchen any time of the year, but especially on warm Summer days, as it is zesty and refreshing. Luckily, it doesn’t take very long to make and if you can resist eating too early, it’s ready to eat in just a few hours. This recipe is so easy (requires no cooking) that even the kids can make it.

Ingredients

200g (approx ½ pack) of digestives

100g of ginger biscuits (or 2 tsp of ground ginger)

100g butter (melted)

400g cream cheese

200g double cream

100g caster sugar

juice and grated zest of 4 lemons

½ jar of lemon curd (or make your own)

Method

Prepare a round baking tin (preferably with a removable bottom – I use a glass bottomed, springform tin) with a 2” side wall, brushing butter around the base and sides. Line the sides with a strip of grease proof paper if available.

Put the ginger and digestive biscuits into a blender and blitz together into fine crumbs, remove and put in a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter and mix in well.

Press the biscuit mixture into the bottom of the tin, approx ½ inch thick, with the back of a metal spoon. Place into the fridge for about 1 hour (or freezer about ½ hour) to set.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, ½ of the lemon zest and all of the lemon juice together until smooth and thick. Add the sugar and mix in well.

In a separate bowl, whip the double cream until thick, then whip/mix this into the cream cheese mixture.

Spread on top of the biscuit base, smoothing out the top with a spatula.

Top the cheesecake mixture with a thick layer of lemon curd, first spooning into the centre and gently spreading out toward the edges (to avoid mixing in with the cheesecake mix).

Sprinkle the remaining lemon zest on top and put in the fridge to set for about 3 hours or overnight. The truth is I find it ridiculously hard to wait that long and so I put in the freezer for an hour, then serve half of the cheesecake and have the remaining cheesecake the following day. It does taste better when set properly though.

Remove the sides from the base of the tin and if your tin base is not for serving from (I use a glass bottomed springform tin, so mine is), slide a pallet knife or metal spatula under the cake and ease gently onto a serving plate. Slice with a good solid, large knife to cut through the base and serve.

Whilst the best curries are slow cooked, this is a quick and easy Chick Pea Curry … you might want to make sure there are left overs and save for another day (the flavours will have absorbed even more). This dish is vegetarian (vegan even), gluten free and full of nutrients.

Ingredients

Serves: 4 (double up if you want to save half in the freezer for another day)

2 (400g) tins chickpeas

oil for frying

1 onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon of ginger paste (or 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger)

1 clove of garlic (peeled and chopped finely)

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 (400g) tin chopped tomatoes

2 blocks frozen chopped spinach

Method

Drain and rinse the chickpeas then soak in water for 10 minutes, then drain and rinse thoroughly.

Fry the onion in a bit of oil until golden.

Add the garlic and the ginger paste along with chilli powder, salt, turmeric and garam masala. Stir until all spices are absorbed.

Add the tomatoes and frozen spinach and stir.

Add the chickpeas and stir lightly.

Leave to simmer for 30 minutes (although the best curries are left to absorb the flavours for at least an hour – leftovers or curry saved for another day often taste better!). If the sauce looks a little too thick add water.

Serve with boiled basmati rice.

Enjoy!

*If you add samosas and or bhajis to this recipe, it will no longer be gluten free.

Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides.

Process till the mixture is somewhere between the texture of couscous and a paste. You want the mixture to hold together, and a more paste-like consistency will help with that… but don’t overprocess, you don’t want it turning into hummus!

Once the mixture reaches the desired consistency, pour it out into a bowl and use a fork to stir; this will make the texture more even throughout.

Remove any large chickpea chunks that the processor missed.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Fill a skillet with vegetable oil to a depth of 1 ½ inches. I prefer to use cooking oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed.

Heat the oil slowly over medium heat.

Meanwhile, form falafel mixture into round balls or slider-shaped patties using wet hands or a falafel scoop. I usually use about 2 tbsp of mixture per falafel. You can make them smaller or larger depending on your personal preference. The balls will stick together loosely at first, but will bind nicely once they begin to fry. *Problems falling apart! If you can get them into the hot oil, they will bind together and stick. If they still won’t hold together, you can try adding 2-3 tbsp of flour to the mixture. If they still won’t hold, add 1-2 eggs to the mix.

Before frying the first batch of falafel, test-fry one in the center of the pan. If the oil is at the right temperature, it will take 2-3 minutes per side to brown (5-6 minutes total). If it browns faster than that, your oil is too hot and your falafels will not be fully cooked in the center.

Cool the oil down slightly and try again. When the oil is at the right temperature, fry the falafels in batches of 5-6 at a time till golden brown on both sides.

Once the falafels are fried, remove them from the oil using a slotted spoon. Let them drain on paper towels.

Serve the falafels fresh and hot; they go best with a plate of hummus and topped with creamy tahini sauce. You can also stuff them into a pita.

Slow cooking this chick pea curry with butternut squash, cauliflower and coconut allows all of the flavours to mingle and come alive. Curry in a hurry can never offer the taste sensation that slow cooking has to offer! If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can still prepare in the same way and allow to cook in a stock pot (or large pan) on a low heat for at least an hour.

In case you were wondering and to save you Googling, all rice is gluten free, whether it’s white, brown, basmati, jasmine, etc. But if you want to remove the starch, then pre-soaking and rinsing till clear will make it very fluffy and light.

Whilst it seems easy to buy a packet of ready made curry powder, it’s actually just as easy and much more satisfying to make your own curry blend. The blend I have used is medium heat and full of flavour, but you could increase the depth and flavour as you see fit (experiment every time you cook).

Method

For the curry:

Turn on you slow cooker to a high setting. Heat (on medium) a large frying pan/sauté pan and add the olive oil for frying. Add the onions and sauté for approx 3 minutes, until soft. Add freshly found ginger (if using) and garlic and sauté for another minute. Add all of the curry blend ingredients and allow to mix into a paste in the pan. If it looks like it might burn, turn down the heat a little and add a tablespoon of water. Transfer the onion and curry paste to the slow cooker. Add all of the remaining curry ingredients (except for the spinach) to the slow cooker. Heat on high for four hours or on low for at least 6 hours. Before serving add the spinach, stir in and cook allow to heat through for about 5 more minutes.

For the Coconut Rice:

Remember you can soak the rice to remove most of the starch. This can be done at any time before cooking (whilst the slow cooker is on) for about 30 minutes, then rinse and drain away the water and cook as instructed. Otherwise, simply rinse several times before cooking, to remove some of the starch.

Add the basmati rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a large pan. Using a high heat, bring to the boil, then reduce to a low heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Remove from the heat allow to sit for 10 minutes and serve with the curry.

Bread made by yourself tastes so much better and using the bread maker makes it so much easier. Whilst it still takes 3 and a half hours to make (all the work is done for you) and the magic of the yeast has not been rushed. This recipe makes a 2lb white, crusty loaf that is light and airy.

Ingredients:

Hand hot water (enough to make up to 300ml)

1 egg

500g white bread flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

25g softened (or chopped) butter

1 tsp dried yeast

Method:

Add one egg to a measuring jug and lightly whisk

Top up to 300ml with hand hot water

Put the liquid into your bread pan

Gently add flour over the liquid in the bread pan (taking care not to let the liquid rise above the flour).

Put the salt, sugar and butter into 3 corners of the bread pan.

Make a small indentation in the flour (taking care not to expose any liquid) and add the yeast to this.

Remove from the bread pan from the bread maker soon after it has finished and after a few minutes, transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool (take care to use a dry tea towel or oven mitts, as the bread pan may still be hot).

This is an easy recipe for a half and half wholemeal/white loaf, that I feel makes for a better homemade loaf than wholemeal alone when using a breadmaker. It will be full of wholemeal goodness, uses as much milk as a milk loaf and yet will be as soft and airy as a white loaf – perfect for children (full of calcium) and adults alike.

Ingredients:

200ml of warm milk

Hand hot water (enough to make up to 300ml)

225g white bread flour

225g wholemeal flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

25g softened (or chopped) butter

1 tsp dried yeast

Method:

Add 200ml of warm milk to a measuring jug

Top up to 300ml with hand hot water

Put the liquid into your bread pan

Gently add both the wholemeal and white flour over the liquid in the bread pan (taking care not to let the liquid rise above the flour).

Put the salt, sugar and butter into 3 corners of the bread pan.

Make a small indentation in the flour (taking care not to expose any liquid) and add the yeast to this.

Remove from the bread pan from the bread maker soon after it has finished and after a few minutes, transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool (take care to use a dry tea towel or oven mitts, as the bread pan may still be hot).

*Note: The bread is usually best left to stand to cool before cutting as it may not be firm enough if too hot.

Someone recently asked me for a good Lemon Drizzle Cake and naturally I knew there was one in HoniesKitchen … so for a zesty, yummy, buttercream filled cake this Spring Bank Holiday, look no further – enjoy!

One sure way of putting a smile on the face of HonieDaddy is to give him what he wants *cough* and he is easily pleased with anything ‘LEMON’ – lemon meringue, lemon cheesecake, lemon drizzle cake (to name but a few).

The Food of Love

I got the hint when he text me a response ending “Love you with lemon meringue pie on top”. Bless, it’s the food of love this lemon stuff. Well, the car was in garage for repair this week and I didn’t have enough ingredients for lemon meringue pie, but lemon drizzle cake was a pretty good match!

You can do this recipe, with or without the lemon buttercream filling (using one or *two cake tins).